About IELP

The International Environmental Law Project (IELP) works with governments, non-governmental organizations, and international institutions to develop, implement, and enforce international environmental law to tackle some of today’s most challenging global issues, includingclimate change,biodiversity conservation,oceans and fisheries andtrade and the environment. IELP also trains and educates the next generation of international environmental advocates by providing students at Lewis & Clark Law School with opportunities to participate in international environmental law and policy.

News

Lewis and Clark’s Environmental Law Program receives top U.S. News ranking

Lewis & Clark Law School’s Environmental Law Program tied for No. 1 in U.S. News & World Report’’s 2014 annual rankings of law schools. The ranking was produced through a survey of faculty from across the country teaching in the environmental law field. ﻿Read more here.

IELP Publishes New Report: Building an International Polar Bear World Heritage Reserve

The International Environmental Law Project’s new report, The World Heritage Convention and Polar Bear Conservation: Creating a Transboundary Polar Bear World Heritage Reserve, describes how the World Heritage Convention can be used to build resilience for polar bear conservation by designating important polar bear denning and other habitat as World Heritage. The World Heritage Convention is the international treaty that protects places of “outstanding universal value,” such as the Taj Mahal and the Great Barrier Reef. It can do the same for the polar bear and its Arctic habitat.

By designating denning and other polar bear habitat as World Heritage, range States and other members of the World Heritage Convention can collaborate to help protect polar bears through capacity building, education, funding, and management support. The prestige of a World Heritage listing will promote conservation of these spectacular Arctic environments, leverage conservation dollars, and highlight to citizens of the world just how important the Arctic is for wildlife and humans alike. Building resilience will be the key to polar bear conservation as polar bear populations decline due to loss of its sea-ice habitat. Because many polar bear populations cross international boundaries, all five range States—Canada, Greenland (Denmark), Norway, Russia, and the United States—must cooperate to ensure the polar bear’s survival.

The transboundary nature of the polar bear reserve should also spur additional scientific research, particularly relating to climate change, in the region. Moreover, despite the spectacular beauty of the Arctic, as well as the cultural history and present-day cultural importance of many Arctic environments, the region is significantly underrepresented on the World Heritage List.